


Connection

by celeste9



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Extra Treat, F/F, Grief/Mourning, Hugs, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-08-29 06:52:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16739167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celeste9/pseuds/celeste9
Summary: Rey knew what to do with a broken panel on the Millennium Falcon but not what to do with a crying Rose. She hoped improvisation and a will to help would be enough.





	Connection

**Author's Note:**

  * For [weakinteraction](https://archiveofourown.org/users/weakinteraction/gifts).



Rose was crying and Rey didn’t know what to do.

It was an accident, really, stumbling on her. She had just been looking to fix the panel broken by an overenthusiastic pilot but when she turned the corner she heard crying, and there was Rose.

Rey went back around the corner and then cursed herself for being an idiot. She couldn’t just flee like a coward; Rose was hurting and needed help. But maybe she wanted to be alone, so maybe leaving her was actually the right thing to do. Rey didn’t know how to comfort people. The last time she had tried to make a vulnerable connection the building had literally blown apart around her.

Closing her eyes, Rey breathed in and out and considered. Rose was her friend. Sort of. She was Finn’s friend, anyway, and Finn was Rey’s friend, and Rey would like it if Rose was her friend, too. There were so few of them left, and Rey… This was what she had wanted. Belonging. She had to make the effort.

Besides, Rose was upset. The least Rey could do was ask if she might like some company.

She went back around the corner. Rose was still crying. Rey cleared her throat.

Rose dropped the wrench in her hand and it fell to the floor with a clatter.

Rey winced. “Sorry.” She definitely could have made the approach better.

“No,” Rose said, wiping her sleeve beneath her nose. “No, I’m sorry, I’m being ridiculous. Just ignore me, okay? I was going to fix this loose panel in the grating and I just… I don’t know, I… I remembered this time Paige tripped on that skinny walk to the ball turret in _Cobalt Hammer,_ and it made me…” She sniffled.

Crouching down to meet Rose at eye level, Rey said, “Don’t apologize. You lost your sister; I think it’s okay to cry.”

Rey had no idea how it felt to have a sister, let alone to lose one. She didn’t know what to do.

Tears were still leaking out of Rose’s eyes though she kept sniffling, like she was trying to stop but her body wouldn’t listen. Her shoulders shook faintly.

Hesitating, Rey thought about the times she had hugged Finn and how good it felt, knowing someone was there, the relief of connection, symbolic of having someone who cared. Maybe Rose would want that, too.

Gingerly she stretched her arm around Rose’s shoulders. Almost immediately Rose turned into her, clinging, and the tears came more easily. Rey wrapped her arms around Rose, a little bit uncomfortable but thinking that this must be right, she had figured it out, she was helping. Her heart ached for how sad Rose was and she wondered if it wasn’t better, having no one, because then you had no one to lose.

Then she thought of that endless string of long days alone in her AT-AT on Jakku and thought that having someone, even if you lost them, was worth it.

She wasn’t sure what to say so she didn’t say anything, just kept holding Rose and letting her sob into her neck, rubbing her back soothingly. At least, she hoped it was soothingly. She had never done this before, after all.

Eventually Rose cried herself out and she quieted, still hanging onto Rey. Then she drew back, her face red and tear-streaked, and wiped her sleeve across her nose again. “Stars, I’m sorry,” she said, her voice a little shaky. “I cried all over you. I’m sorry.”

Rey smiled weakly at her. “It’s okay. I… I wanted to help.”

“Finn said you were kind.”

“He said you were, too.”

“Really? I tasered him.”

Rey laughed, surprised. “He told me he realizes now that maybe his plan wasn’t the best one, or the fairest one. You were doing your job. And…” She chewed her lip. “You had just lost your sister; she died for the fleet. It must have felt like a slap in the face to see him trying to run away, to help me over everyone your sister died to save.”

Rose’s eyes were watering again. “I expected him to care as much as we did, but he didn’t have a reason to. We came from different places. Paige…” She swallowed. “Paige would have done anything for the Resistance.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t know her.”

“Me, too.” Rose smiled. “She would have liked you.” She paused a moment and added, “I can see why he would want to make sure you were safe.”

Rey didn’t understand quite why that made her feel so warm. “He was my first friend. Thank you for risking your life to save him.”

“Well, he grows on you,” Rose said, and she really had the loveliest smile. She shifted to seat herself more comfortably, her shoulder pressing into Rey’s.

“You know, I…” Rey swallowed. “I didn’t have a family, not one that loved me, but I think… I think maybe it’s good to remember all the things that made you happy because then it’s a little bit like she’s still with you, isn’t it? You have so many memories and those are… they’re a gift.”

What Rey wouldn’t give for memories like that.

Rose leaned into Rey a little bit farther and murmured, “Yes. I think that’s true. Thank you.”

“I hope… I hope we can be friends? If you wanted that.”

She was bestowing Rey with that beautiful, beautiful smile again and it made Rey feel as though her insides were squirming in confused pleasure. “I would like that a lot.”

Rey cleared her throat. “I… I was going to fix that broken panel, too.”

Rose laughed. “Maybe we can do it together,” she said, and Rey couldn’t think of anything she’d like more.


End file.
